Bio: 185lbs… riding twin tips 164x43 and 135x41. Flown several brands liked all of them, but these have been my favorite thus far. I own Core GT 7, 9, & 10.5m and Core Riot XR 12m. I am not a pro kiter just love this sport and have finally found the kites for me. All around performance (boost massive), huge wind ranges , and no nonsense safety system that works consistently is why I like these kites.

Core Kites: German Co. made in Sri Lanka and lines made in Germany. Excellent customer service in my opinion, the best I have had including when I ordered from Germany. Very nice and professional people. They now have a distributor in California for the USA.

1. Kites: beautifully built, attention to detail and clean with little extra material or features that add drag. All the kites I have bought have been consistently free from defect and ready to go on arrival. Best Dacron material I‘ve ever seen. Rip stop is like most other high end fabric. Bridle lines are unique unsleeved thin Para chord type line made in Germany very resistant to stretch. Pulley good quality Sprenger . Larger caliber dyneema for pigtails. One pump works well and disassembles and reassembles very well and the valves have special made grooves to fit firmly in the LE and struts and the openings are reinforced and firm…very nice attention to detail. Inflate/deflate valves are free of check valves so inflate easy and deflates quick with a big dump valve. Overall, very well built and the quality of materials is obvious to the average kiter.

2. Bar: ESP bar. Again German made lines very much like Flysurfer which I used to fly. Probably the same line material. I have many hours on these lines and they haven’t needed tuning yet…I check my lines often. Very Low Stretch! You can use the same bar for GT and Riot XR with no need for adjustment. Pull/pull strap works nice and easy to reach. Has auto unswiveling of the lines after you spin your bar, just sheet in and the twist spins out. Chicken loop and release work well metal on metal no accidental release. Chicken bone is the only thing I do not like, it is thin and flimsy. The chicken loop can come out of your harness bar suddenly… as this has happened several times on me. This needs a thicker stiffer chicken bone. The whole bar is easily repaired and designed to easily switch out lines and replace with material found at stores like West marine or any kiteboard shop. Nothing is special to the point that you have to get new line parts from Core, which is very nice IMO.

3. Emergency Release: Best system I have used. It is a virtual 5th line on a 4 line kite. Works brilliantly every time so far. It flags out like a 5th line thanks to the pulleys and bridle positions on the LE. I have self landed easily and safely in high wind several times without issue. Very easy to land and walk up center lines and recover kite. If you punch out over the water this system recovers well. No tumbling on 1 line fiasco as is common with other 4 line systems.

4. Relaunch; Honestly, you have to be a total spas not to be able to relaunch this kite. Easy, even in light wind and if you are separated from your board in deep water no problem

5. Flying: The GT is the mustang cobra jet of the line up. Massive grunt on the low end. I do not need a bigger GT than the 10.5m. Low end for me is 10kts no problem on a big twin tip. Board size and kite size. GT boosts massive and fast like a rocket. The 10.5m compared to the 7&9m has mod-heavy bar pressure. The 7and 9m are just right for me but I would say medium pressure. At the top end of the 10.5 I am over powered . You can go directly from 10.5m to 7m. But I like the 9m in med. 15kts-25kts and the 7m when consistently above 20kts to ?… I guess your personal limit and weight factor. This kite turns fast and is powerful through turns. When you send it for a jump it goes back fast and redirects fast in all three sizes. The GT loops fast, but watch out this kite makes a big loop with lots of power and needs strong bar input. Easy to fly kite not twitchy even in the 7m and excellent feedback at the bar.

The Riot XR: My new favorite kite! Powerful, butter smooth, responsive, and awesome at the top end of the wind range. I would say the 12m is comparable on the low-end to GT 10.5m but smooth and super comfy at the top end of the wind range. I love this kite. You can be the first one out on this kite and when the wind picks up on the 12m you don’t need to rush in to switch out to a smaller kite. This kite handles so well in gusty high wind. I can’t wait to get another riot probably the 10m as the high end is so comfy on the 12m and I like to be powered up.

In summary GT is super grunty, fast turning, with heavier bar pressure in bigger sizes, Riot xr very smooth power, bar pressure just right, fast turning and super comfy on the high end. Jumps on the riot xr don’t rip you off the water like the GT. The riot Xr for me so far in the 12m is the best kite I’ve used in all areas just an all around big wind range and fun butter smooth kite.

Have the same mindset , and use a GT 7 and GT 9 (mostly for wave riding) and bring out the XR 12 for lighter wind conditions. This combination of kites work well for me and mostly directional board riding. Spot on.

I got a new ESP bar at the start of 2010 and the donkey dick has been changed. It is attached differently and is heaps better for unhooking / hooking back in, and has never come out on me by accident.

I have been using the GT 10.5m on the second knot (one longer than the preset knot). Gives you a much reduced bar pressure and a much bigger wind range. I think this should be the default knot. Give it a try (hardly effects the bottom end).

It is a GT with more sporty Genes, C-shaped integrated with Delta architecture.

The graphics are new combined with the trademark yellow-white color of Core. I can't wait to test them since my style is more C oriented, but I love delta comfort on relunching after crushes all the time.